It’s been a few days since my last post.  I actually worked on a few little odds and ends since the last post but nothing significant as I was waiting for my calipers to arrive so I could check the thickness of the strips I was trying to bend.  It turned out that my previous attempts had been on strips that were 3mm to 4mm thick rather than the 1mm to 1.25mm that I expect to be bending for the real violin ribs.  So, I planed one of the strips down a bit, to about 1.75mm and gave it another go.  The bending went much more smoothly!

I made a couple of other changes in my bending process also.  On the advice of many, from the internet, I heated my bending iron hot enough so that water didn’t just boil when it hit the iron but rather it beaded up and danced off the iron.  But, you don’t want the iron so hot that it scorches the wood so make sure and let the iron heat up for a good bit of time and test on a scrap piece of wood for scorching.

The other significant, though simple, change I made was to use a piece of parchment paper between my aluminum bending strap and the wood strip I’m bending.  This is done to protect the wood from being stained when it rubs against the aluminum.

As you can see in the picture and in the video, the results were good.  When I was done, I thought the fit was probably close to good enough to glue.  However, I discovered the next morning that either the curve had changed or the board had shrunk and it no longer fit tightly at both ends.  Next time, when I get done bending the strip, I’m going to try clamping it into the c-bout on the form over night to see if that helps.

One thing I learned along the way was to NOT try to use carpet tape to hold the strips down while planing.  I had read this recommendation on several forums but it didn’t work out well at all for me!  When I got the strips down to a little over 1.5mm thick, I found that the adhesive on the tape was just too strong and the strips would break as I tried to remove them from the tape.  Maybe there’s some brand that isn’t as permanent, but the standard double sided cloth carpet tape that I tried was a disaster… fortunately only on scrap wood!

Here’s today’s video.  Enjoy!

Print PDF

In this article I’ll explain what the GPX and KML files are that I  provide with many articles and how you can use them.

With most trail, road trip, and destination articles I provide two down-loadable files; a KML file, and a GPX file.  Both files contain information about tracks, waypoints or both.  A track is what you see on the map that accompanies the article showing the path I took.  Waypoints are markers that show up on the map at specific locations.   While each of these files contains similar information, each has a particular use.

KML files are in a format that is compatible with Google Earth and Google Maps, as well as an increasing number of other applications.  If you download the KML file from an article then you can open it using the Google Earth application and get a 3D view of it with satellite imagery.  If you have not tried Google Earth, I highly recommend it.  You can get a copy for free from Google!

The GPX files that I provide are actually compressed (zipped) versions of the GPX files.  GPX stands for GPS Exchange.  Once un-zipped, these files can be imported into many GPS units, particularly Garmin products.  If you import the GPX file to your GPS unit then you should be able to see the track and waypoints that I captured as well as some additional information that I may have added later.

I should point out here that you can actually open GPX files with google earth as well.  I include both types of files because sometimes I modify the KML file specifically for display within Earth.

The GPS unit that I use most often is the Garmin 60CSx for several reasons.  It uses AA batteries making it easy to use over extended periods of time when a charger may not be available.  It’s memory can be expanded with a Micro-SD card allowing expanded map and track capture capabilities.  For example, I have topo maps of  most of the western US loaded on mine in addition to street maps.  It also has a very sensitive receiver that seems to lock onto the GPS satellites faster than many other GPS units.  One thing that I consider a feature, that some may not, is that it uses buttons rather than a touch screen for navigation, etc.  This is a feature to me for two reasons… First, I’m often using the unit in dirty, dusty, gritty conditions and would be concerned that a touch screen would get scratched up quickly.  Second, to protect the unit from bumps and dings, I keep the unit in a protective sheath which still allows the buttons to be pressed but would probably prevent a touch screen from working.  This unit is also water resistant and includes both a barometric altimeter and a magnetic compass.

Print PDF

We’ve put together several articles on Gold Panning.  Hope you have fun with them!

Print PDF

Gold Panning Equipment… OK, so from the first episode you know that gold is dense and that’s why gold panning works.  Now we’ll spend a little time talking about the equipment you’ll need and some that will just make panning easier and more productive. So, here’s a snapshot of the equipment that I’ve found convenient:

Panning Equipment

We’ll go over each piece of equipment in a moment, but for convenience, here’s a list:

• 1 shovel
• 2 buckets
• 1 gold pan
• 1 trowel
• 1 hand pick
• 1 classifier (sieve)

The shovel, trowel, and hand pick are pretty familiar and common gardening items so I won’t be going into more detail about those other than to say that I’ve chosen mine to be easy to carry or put into a pack in case I need to tote them a ways. If you’re interested in getting your own equipment, I’ve provided links at the end of this article. The most important item of the bunch, and the only one that is really necessary is the gold pan itself.

Gold Pan

Modern gold pans are almost always made of plastic and have some sort of ridge structure to help keep the gold in the pan as water is being sloshed around. The one I like the most, shown here, is about 14 inches in diameter and green in color. There are many sizes, styles, and colors of pans available as you can see from this collection:

Variety of Gold Pans

• Black 10″
• Blue 10″
• Blue 12″
• Green 10″
• Green 14″

You can probably see that the style of ridges is different in these pans as well.  The green ones have a single set of deep cut ridges.  The blue pans have one set of deep cut ridges and one set of shallow cut ridges. I suppose that the theory is that you can move to the shallow cut ridges as you get down to finer and finer material while panning.  Personally, I have not found this very useful and do just fine with the single set of rides. The black pan is one of the type you’ll find in many hardware, sporting good, and novelty stores.  It’s made of plastic but is designed to look like an old fashioned steel pan.  I really recommend against them as they are not nearly as efficient as the others shown. What I do recommend is that you go with the largest pan you can get, with the deep ridges, that you can handle with it full of dirt and water.  One of the keys to panning is to go through as much material as possible in the shortest amount of time.  So, the larger the pan, the faster the panning!… unless it’s too heavy for you and you drop the whole thing in the creek. OK, let’s move on to the next piece of recommended equipment, the classifier.  It’s really just a sieve, but they call it a classifier because they come in several different grate sizes so you can “classify” the size of material that gets through.  Here’s what it looks like:

Classifier (or Sieve)

You see it sitting on top of a bucket because that’s how it’s used.  They’re designed to fit a standard 3 or 5 gallon bucket.  To use it, you dig up a shovel full of gravel and dump it in the classifier that’s sitting on a bucket.  Then, you use a second bucket to pour water over the material to wash the dirt, sand, and small gravel down into the bucket. You may need to use your hands to get all the larger material washed off and down into the bucket.  What you’re trying to do is get all the fine gold that may have been hiding in the sand and mud down into the bucket.  If there’s a hunk of gold large enough to be captured by the classifier, trust me, you’ll see it when you toss out the stuff that’s left after you’ve washed the mud off. So, that’s about it for equipment.  Pretty simple!  You need a pan… of course.  You need a classifier so you don’t have to stick 6 inch diameter rocks in your pan.  You need one bucket to collect the panning material and another to get water to wash it off in the classifier.  And, you need something to dig with. Whoops!  Almost forgot… Of course you are going to be lucky and find some gold so you need something to put it in.  One of these little glass vials works great:

Vial For Your Gold

So, that’s about it for equipment.  I hope to get down to the stream soon to show you how to use it!

joe

Resources:

Folding Shovel from Campmor

You can get 3 and 5 gallon buckets at almost any hardware store.

Print PDF

Hi Everybody!

To help understand the fundamentals of gold panning, let me introduce you to Specific Gravity… What, you didn’t think this was going to be a physics lesson?

Specific Gravity is the ratio of the density of a material to the density of water.  A more dense the material, the faster and farther it sinks in water or water soaked muck.

Water has a specific gravity of 1 because… obviously… it has the same density as water.  Gold has a specific gravity of 19.6, meaning it is almost 20 time more dense than water.  Iron, another common metal found in stream beads, has a specific gravity of around 7.5 meaning that gold is about 2 and a half times more dense than iron.

Now, compare those to broken granite, gravel, and quartz with a specific gravities between 1.5 and 1.7, and you can see why looking for gold using water is so popular. Gold is over 10 times more dense than the majority of stuff in any riverbed.

What does that mean?  It means that given even the slightest opportunity, gold will sink to the bottom.

The bottom of what you ask…

Well, the bottom of where ever it happens to be. That means that if it’s in the river bed, it’s going to eventually find its way down to the bedrock at the bottom of the river channel if it doesn’t get washed out to sea first.  If it’s in a bucket full of sand and gravel you’ve dug up, it’ll settle quickly to the bottom if you disturb the contents too much. If it’s in your pan, it’ll quickly and reliably find its way do the bottom of whatever you have in there with out too much prodding on your part.

So, now we’ve hit on the “bottom line” so to speak, and the magic secret of panning for gold.  Remember, gold is ten times “heavier” (actually more dense) than most of the stuff in the river and over twice as “heavy” as the next most common metal in the river, Iron. Plop a handful of river gravel and sand into your pan, submerse it in water, stir it around a bit, give it a couple shakes and you can almost guarantee that if there’s gold in there, it’s now at the bottom of the pan. In fact, using techniques we’ll go into in the next episode, once you wash away the majority of gravel and sand, you’re likely to be left tiny fraction of the original volume of material, and it will likely look like pure black sand. The first few times you try, you’ll probably say to your self “Rats! No Gold!”. But wait… that black sand is mostly if not all Iron. And what did we say about the density of gold compared to iron… that’s right, if we’ve done our job right, and if there was gold in the pan to beginning, then it’s probably still there now, just hiding underneath the black iron sand.

It’s a big thrill the first time you separate out the black sand and find the flake of gold clinging to the bottom of the pan. Even though most finds are just flakes, and not the thumb size nugget that make national headlines, it’s still a lot of fun to find them.

Next episode we’ll be taking a look at common equipment used for recreational gold panning, where to get it, and how to use it.

Print PDF